Welcome to Thursday Trivia where we offer up a historical automotive trivia question and you try and solve it before seeing the answer after the jump. It’s like a history test, with cars! 

This week’s question: When and why did the Rolls Royce badge change color?

If you think you know the answer, click on through the jump and see if you are correct.

Everyone knows that the venerated marque Rolls Royce was founded by two men, one named Rolls – Charles Stewart Rolls, and the other named Royce- Frederick Henry Royce. Did you know however, that their company didn’t offer complete cars until after the Second World War? Prior to that, the British car builder offered chassis’ which were then custom fitted with bodywork from any of a number of different coach builders like Hooper and Baker.

That however wasn’t the only major change undertaken by Rolls Royce in the first half of the last century, they also changed the color of their iconic badge. Originally red, the intertwined RRs were without fanfare changed to black in 1933. 

Rumors later were that the change was made to honor the passing of Henry Royce, but that was not the case, as it was Royce himself that made the decision. The real reason was for less ominous.

From the Rolls Royce Owners’ Club:

The badge on the Rolls-Royce was changed from Red to Black not, as popularly believed to commemorate Henry Royce’s death, but because Royce himself decided Black was aesthetically more appropriate.  Some customers complained that the red badge often clashed with the colour of the car.

Image source: ucapusa